MINNEAPOLIS — This one came as advertised.

Minnewaska and Sauk Centre are two equally matched girls basketball teams that split their regular-season series.

Wednesday night at Williams Arena, Minnewaska won the rubber match.

The fifth-seeded Lakers downed the fourth-seeded Mainstreeters 60-53.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

“It was super fun,” said Minnewaska senior wing Megan Thorfinnson, who led the Lakers with 17 points, “especially being on the big stage.”

“I’m just super thankful that I could do it with this team, too,” Minnewaska senior post Sydney Dahl said. “It’s a great group of girls. I couldn’t be more thankful for everyone.”

Minnewaska (28-3) plays No. 1 Providence Academy (30-0) at 6 p.m. Friday in the state AA semifinals at Williams Arena. The Lions, three-time defending state champions, beat eighth-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (23-6), 84-50.

Maddyn Greenway, a 5-foot-9 junior guard who is committed to the Division I University of Kentucky, led Providence Academy with 29 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds on Wednesday.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

“It’s fun to play a team that you see all over the Internet,” Thorfinnson said. “They’re obviously very good, so just to see what we can do against them, it’ll be pretty cool.”

“(We) just got to take it to ‘em,” Minnewaska senior wing Addy Kath said, “not play afraid and play our game.”

Minnewaska trailed most of the way against Sauk Centre. The Lakers got their first lead of the game with 8 minutes, 9 seconds to play, 48-46.

It was tied at 50-50 when Minnewaska rattled off seven hard-earned points to take control. Dahl had a couple of baskets in traffic underneath and Lauryn Ankeny then scored for the Lakers to make it 57-50 with 1:07 to go.

“We always say we’re more of a second-half team,” Kath said. “We rely on each other and we rely on our defense, a lot. I feel like that feeds into our offense nicely, too.”

Tory Jennissen, a 6-foot-4 senior post, then completed a traditional 3-point play to cut the Mainstreeters’ deficit to 57-53 with 1:00 to go.

Forced to foul, Minnewaska made just enough free throws and Sauk Centre (27-3) missed its long-range shots to close the gap, leaving the Lakers with the victory.

“To me, it was just a game of two good teams going at it,” Mainstreeters head coach Scott Bergman said. “(The Lakers) just happened to come out on top.”

Sauk Centre controlled the first half, shooting 7-for-9 from 3-point range. Minnewaska went 5-for-11 from 3-point range.

Cierra Kortan, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, led the Mainstreeters with 15 first-half points. She made 5 of 10 field goals and was 3-for-4 from 3-point range. She also made 2 of 3 free throws. Sauk Centre led the entire first 18 minutes, leading by as much as 36-26.

“We had a lot of motivation from outside and we, just honestly, came to play,” Kortan said.

Also Wednesday at Maturi Pavilion, second-seeded Crosby-Ironton (31-0) defeated No. 7 Barnesville (22-7) 75-50 and third-seeded Minnehaha Academy (21-9) beat No. 6 Caledonia (27-4) 68-63. Crosby-Ironton plays Minnehaha Academy at 8 p.m. Friday at Williams Arena. The championship is at 6 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Sauk Centre and Minnewaska split their West Central Conference games during the regular season. Sauk Centre won 58-48 Dec. 13 at Sauk Centre. Minnewaska defeated the Mainstreeters 51-48 on Jan. 31 in Glenwood.

“We talked at halftime about how it was probably going to go down to the wire,” Bergman said. “Based on the first couple games we played, probably a little bit more high scoring than the others, which surprised me a little bit. Both teams were shooting the ball well, especially in the first half.”

Minnewaska is in the state tournament for the first time since 1999. The Lakers also made state in 1995, ‘96, and ‘97.

Sauk Centre made its 10th state appearance, also making trips in 2010, ‘11, ‘12, ‘13, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, ‘18 and ‘20.

“Our fans were ready for this; they’re cherishing this moment because it doesn’t happen very often,” Lakers head coach Nick Danielson said. “It has been a long time. Our community is really backing us right now.”